Tessa and Adam

I've got a soft spot for small budget weddings and big DIY undertakings; Tessa and Adam's celebration is the perfect combination of spending savvy and sweet style, don't you agree?

The bride designed her gown, then her mother, a talented seamstress, whipped it up for her, along with the darling flower girls' dresses. Bridesmaids and groomsmen were asked to wear light colors, while Adam wore a seersucker suit from J.Crew with a plaid vintage tie and tie clip. Tessa made felt flower corsages and boutonnieres for the bridal party and ribbon wands for the flower girls, but did count on a florist to build her lovely bouquet, filled with garden roses and billy balls.

After the ceremony, the couple played lawn games like croquet and bocce ball with their guests, and encouraged everyone into canoes and paddle boats in the pond behind the barn. They also rented a giant parachute for the big day, and not surprisingly, being tossed up in the air by their friends was a highlight for the bride and groom.

Tessa's bunting flags decorated the barn, and the couple served hot dogs from J Dawgs. Family and friends baked the cupcakes, pies, bundt cakes and donuts that filled the dessert table, and guests washed down their sweets with milk from old-fashioned milk bottles. On hand to capture each sweet moment was the talented Jessica Peterson, Tessa's former roommate; thank you, Jessica, for sharing these wonderful photos with us!

Raindrops on Roses

Gold Kate Spade slingbacks with bows on the toes–can anyone hear me humming My Favorite Things right now? I love the sparkling shoes against the gritty stoop, don't you?

Photo by Heather Waraksa.

Coca Cola

Hello, all-I hope each of you had an absolutely delicious Thanksgiving and a wonderful long weekend! I wish I could tell you how divine our break was, but the truth is that I spent most of it lying in bed with tissues shoved up my nose. You should have seen the look on John's face when he said, "You look like you!"; it gave new meaning to the word "relief".

Since I don't have a single thing to report except Avoid Getting the Flu, I want to hear what you were up to this weekend–where you went, what you ate, gifts you bought this weekend–let me live vicariously through your holidays, darlings!


Image by Kristin Byrum Photography.

Charity and Yoni

I met Charity in a studio class at Peabody; she was outrageous, funny, had the most unforgettable voice I'd ever heard. She wore bejeweled bracelets on both wrists that read "Charity" and "Sunshine", her middle name. And, as it turned out, she had Pulmonary Hypertension.

She met Yoni, her future husband, volunteering on a political campaign, and while their romance blossomed slowly, he was there after the deaths of her grandfather and father, there after she received a double lung transplant, and there after a month long coma and the road from recovery to the operatic stage.

Her TEDMED talk is amazing, and goes much further into her incredible story.

Charity and Yoni were engaged this May, and sandwiched their wedding between additional surgeries, her Lincoln Center debut, hospital visits and countless other performances, but as Charity explained, "We wanted to get married so we did." It was a family effort to pull together their October wedding; sisters Mercina and Glorianna (affectionately referred to as Four and Five on the blog Charity shares with her four sisters) arranged the one hundred and fifty sunflowers they'd ordered with wildflower picked in the freezing rain, while her uncle Justin Dick of Hunter Creek Design created their lovely chuppah. Charity asked everyone to dress in her color palette, white, tan, gray and yellow, which brought color to the morning wedding. They had a spectacular brunch at the Columns Bed & Breakfast starring baked goods Charity is still raving about, and her family, uncle Joshua Gat, sisters Liberty and Glorianna Tillemann-Dick and Margot Dick captured this joyful celebration that Charity was generous enough to share with me.

Charity and Yoni's wedding may not be featured in the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings or pinned to death, but that's not what made me cry the first time I saw these photos, or as I write this now–it's these two incredible people, promising through very real obstacles to love, support and be thankful for one another, and the joy that shines in the faces of this incredible family.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, and may we find things to be thankful for each and every day.

Apple Cobbler

Since I won't be posting on Friday (don't worry, I have a very special wedding to share tomorrow), I thought we'd kick off the long weekend with a perfect Thanksgiving aperitif! Pick up a bottle of bourbon to spice up your pecan pie, then whip up one of these to enjoy while you're finishing last-minute preparations tonight! 

Apple-Bourbon Cobbler

2 oz apple cider

2 oz ginger ale 

1 oz bourbon

Combine apple cider and bourbon; shake well. Strain over crushed ice, top with ginger ale. Garnish with an apple slice. 

Notes: The cobbler is the rare historical cocktail class that is categorized more by the glass and ice than by the ingredients–in this case, a "long drink" served over crushed ice and garnished with fruit. This simple cocktail is served well by the freshest apple cider you can find and whatever bourbon you have on hand. Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving! 

Recipe and Image by Creative Culinary.